The Oregon Trail: sketches of prairie and Rocky-Mountain life eBook

and flocks of large white plover flew screaming over
their surface. Having failed of the antelope,
Raymond tried his hand at the birds with the same
ill success. The water also disappointed us.
Its muddy margin was so beaten up by the crowd of
buffalo that our timorous animals were afraid to approach.
So we turned away and moved toward the hills.
The rank grass, where it was not trampled down by the
buffalo, fairly swept our horses’ necks.

Again we found the same execrable barren prairie offering
no clew by which to guide our way. As we drew
near the hills an opening appeared, through which
the Indians must have gone if they had passed that
way at all. Slowly we began to ascend it.
I felt the most dreary forebodings of ill success,
when on looking round I could discover neither dent
of hoof, nor footprint, nor trace of lodge-pole, though
the passage was encumbered by the ghastly skulls of
buffalo. We heard thunder muttering; a storm
was coming on.

As we gained the top of the gap, the prospect beyond
began to disclose itself. First, we saw a long
dark line of ragged clouds upon the horizon, while
above them rose the peak of the Medicine-Bow, the
vanguard of the Rocky Mountains; then little by little
the plain came into view, a vast green uniformity,
forlorn and tenantless, though Laramie Creek glistened
in a waving line over its surface, without a bush
or a tree upon its banks. As yet, the round projecting
shoulder of a hill intercepted a part of the view.
I rode in advance, when suddenly I could distinguish
a few dark spots on the prairie, along the bank of
the stream.

“Buffalo!” said I. Then a sudden hope
flashed upon me, and eagerly and anxiously I looked
again.

“Horses!” exclaimed Raymond, with a tremendous
oath, lashing his mule forward as he spoke. More
and more of the plain disclosed itself, and in rapid
succession more and more horses appeared, scattered
along the river bank, or feeding in bands over the
prairie. Then, suddenly, standing in a circle
by the stream, swarming with their savage inhabitants,
we saw rising before us the tall lodges of the Ogallalla.
Never did the heart of wanderer more gladden at the
sight of home than did mine at the sight of those
wild habitations!

CHAPTER XIV

THE OGALLALLA VILLAGE

Such a narrative as this is hardly the place for portraying
the mental features of the Indians. The same
picture, slightly changed in shade and coloring, would
serve with very few exceptions for all the tribes that
lie north of the Mexican territories. But with
this striking similarity in their modes of thought,
the tribes of the lake and ocean shores, of the forests
and of the plains, differ greatly in their manner of
life. Having been domesticated for several weeks
among one of the wildest of the wild hordes that roam
over the remote prairies, I had extraordinary opportunities
of observing them, and I flatter myself that a faithful